If this evil and blatant usury of our land is not stopped by our elected and sworn representatives by listening to reason, constituents, and the constitution – if they wimp out on their duty to make sure anything done to this state is done right or not at all; if this illegal attack supplants democracy – then democracy will be wrestled back, one way or another.

AIRFOAM HD discharging into spring water from gas production — Dan Spadoni of the DEP said to the reporter in this news article that the MSDS sheet states that Airfoam HD is not dangerous — but it is, Air Foam HD has high levels of a chemical called 2-BE (2-Butoxyethanol) which is strongly associated with a rare form of adrenal cancer. The MSDS sheets for Airfoam HD indicate that this chemical product can cause health problems and is also soluble in water. Water tests for 2-BE are extremely expensive, costing over $100 for a 500ppm test of a water sample (as Wayne and Angel Smith in Clearville, PA found out last winter). There is already one poster child for 2-BE contamination and this rare adrenal cancer in a gas drilling area: Laura Amos.

This is what the Sun Gazette article did NOT say about Airfoam HD, the substance running down the hill in Waterville and into Pine Creek.

From Damascus Citizens for Sustainability:
2-Butoxylethanol (2-BE) is a foaming agent used for natural gas production and is proven to cause cancer in animals. 2-BE is a primary component of AirFoam HD, a product that has been found on drilling pads in Pennsylvania — the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for Air Foam HD state that is dissolves in water and that chronic exposure causes cancer. Testing for 2-BE costs over $100 per test, and the cost burden is on the landholder. DEP has failed to test for drilling or fracking chemicals in their standard tests, which are only performed when landowners report problems in their water supply, not before the problems occur. Residents who will soon have natural gas production occurring in their region or upstream from their groundwater supply must hire an independent water testing company to do a “baseline test” to show the lack of contaminants prior to the drilling. Without a baseline test, it is more difficult to convict a drilling operator for water contamination – the drilling operator can claim that there is no proof that the contaminant was not in the groundwater supply prior to the drilling.

From The Endocrine Disruption Exchange a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Theo Colborn. TEDX is dedicated to compiling and disseminating scientific evidence on the health and environmental problems caused by low-dose exposure to chemicals known as endocrine disruptors, which interfere with development and function.

In order to prevent injury while working with potentially harmful products, Material Safety Data Sheets are designed to inform people who handle, ship, and use these products about their physical and chemical characteristics and their direct and/or immediate health effects. Many MSDSs do not address the outcome of long term, intermittent or chronic exposures, or adverse health effects that may not be expressed until years after the exposure. 2-Butoxylethanol (2-BE) is one of the nastier things the drilling industry uses, It is soluble in water, vaporizes in air, and is taken up through the skin. It can cause a very specific adrenal tumor linked to its exposure. 2-BE is implicated in a wide variety of health effects in most systems of the body and should be handled with great care. Studies have indicated there is no known level of dilution where 2-BE does not have an effect on organisms. Download the spreadsheet at: http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/chemicals.fracturing.php

This incident is of grave concern to us all, especially those who live in Waterville or had planned to catch and eat fish from Pine Creek.

Article I of the Pennsylvania State Constitution, Sec. 27:

The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.

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Energy Independence???? Look up in the fracking sky!!!!!
Pennsylvanians should be manufacturing and installing solar, wind, geothermal and the like. We ought to make each home as sustainable and independent as possible.
We need to retool America. And it ought to start right here.

"However, when we realized all our neighbors had signed and we were surrounded by leased land – we finally gave in and signed. Now seeing what has happened I would gladly return the money if they would pack up and leave. I consider it dirty money."
- Susquehanna County lessor